I’ve posted several times over the years about how I nostalgic the first day of school could make me. Even after all these years. But perhaps I’ve finally hit the magic zone because this year: nothing. I don’t know if it’s because I’m so much busier at the moment than I have been in year’s past or if it’s the maniacal parents driving their kids to school. This was something I used to be able to avoid thanks to working from home. But now I drive or walk to work AND I walk my dog in the morning, which puts me directly in the line of fire so to speak, of angry parents dropping their kids off. Anyways….

I’m kind of bummed about the lack of nostalgia this year. I love the fall. It’s my favourite season. I love dewy, wet, misty fall mornings. They take me back to memories of being a kid and even to my first real job in the Byward Market in Ottawa. Heck, I even have a fetish for stationery products and used to love to browse all the back to school sales, even though I was never in need of a duo tang or binder. It was just habit.

I loved seeing all the kids heading to school back to school, following behind their mom’s like little ducklings. And more recently seeing all the first day of school pictures on Facebook. This year? Nothing. In fact, I after a while as I noticed how much this was invading my feed, I avoided Facebook. I don’t have kids, but I sure do love the ones that are in my life. All those shiny, happy little faces brought me no joy in 2015.

All this un-Dennis like behaviour had me asking some tough questions. Am I dead inside? Maybe. Have I lost all sense of joy and fun? I think, probably? Or has enough time finally passed since I was a student that I don’t feel any attachment to the start of school?

I’m hoping that this is a passing phase, thanks to how busy things are at Copperworks HQ. Because it would make me sad if the first day of school, which for me is synonymous with the start of fall, didn’t hold some reminder of my childhood and youth. Here’s to 2016, and thoughts of nostalgia.